By Shuli Ren

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My colleague Kopin Tan is in Singapore attending the SALT Asia conference (a big hedge fund conference). A former CIC top executive says we should invest in China because it has growth and sustainable growth, after reforms of course. Kopin reports:

Speaking at the SALT Asia conference in Singapore, Jin Liqun, the former chairman of the Board of Supervisors of China Investment Corp., reminds investors that China remains an important market not just because it’s big, but “because China can give you continued investment opportunities through reforms” that are ongoing.

For one thing, Beijing has made clear that economic growth slower than 7% “is not allowed,” so there’s presumably a floor for economic growth for at least one or two decades. On top of that, Beijing is pushing for very ambitious urbanisation programs to accommodate hundreds of millions of migrant workers flocking from rural areas to cities. And China can still improve – and continues to invest – in many areas including the environment, education and health care.

In education, for example, China is facing a shrinking supply of labor force (thanks in part to its aging population and decades of one-child policy). But with improving education, especially in rural areas, the quality of the labor force is improving, he says.

About Emerging Markets Daily

Emerging markets have been synonymous with growth, but the outlook for individual nations is constantly changing. Countries from Brazil and Russia to Turkey face challenges including infrastructure bottlenecks, credit issues and political shifts. Barrons.com’s Emerging Markets Daily blog analyzes news, data and research out of emerging markets beyond Asia to help readers navigate the investment landscape.

Barron’s veteran Dimitra DeFotis has been blogging about emerging market investing since traveling to India and Turkey. Based in New York, she previously wrote for Barron’s about U.S. equity investing, including cover stories and roundtables on energy themes. Dimitra was among the first digital journalists at the Chicago Tribune and started her career as a police reporter at the Daily Herald in the Chicago suburbs. Dimitra holds degrees from the University of Illinois and Columbia University, where she was a Knight-Bagehot Fellow in the business and journalism schools. She studies multiple languages and photography.